Once Sun announced its plans to open-source Java, ActiveGrid found it an opportune time to add features to its ?"Jython"? project, which runs Python within the Java virtual machine. Users can now code Python, PHP or Java, and deploy apps to either Apache or Java systems.

The San Francisco-based vendor released the latest version of Active Grid Studio in conjunction with its ActiveGrid Server 2.0--an app server that enables users to deploy Web 2.0 apps across ?'lightweight?' commodity machines. It?'s a process mastered by leading search engines Google and Yahoo!, as well as Amazon.

And with the hubbub over Web 2.0 apps, mash-ups, and AJAX, Global 2000 companies are looking to evolve their Web apps with new deployment tools that simplify the process. ActiveGrid is said to do just that and it also utilizes exposed back-ends in SOA systems for a dev tool touted as user-friendly.

?"We?'re about to see Web 2.0 make a big jump from its consumer Web site origins into primetime enterprise application development,?" said Peter Yared, CEO at ActiveGrid.

ActiveGrid has enhanced its caching, LDAP integration and load-balancing capabilities among both products, and the new versions also offer new interface and design options for enterprise Web 2.0 developers, including new dashboards that integrate various data sources on the front-end, the mash-up of enterprise apps like CRM and ERP, and new types of CSR apps that integrate multiple HR services. The software also offers expanded skins, colors, menus and wizards.

Open source editions of both ActiveGrid Studio and ActiveGrid Server are available under the Apache Software License 2.0. A subscription to the ActiveGrid Server commercial edition sells between $8,000 and $12,000 per year.